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RPG of the Year nominations revealed

Know your role

Words: on December 7, 2012
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This year's list of nominees for RPG of the Year? Forget about it. Just play them all. But, but, but, the people mandate a victor, and who are we to defy their will? The most immersive environment. The most enthralling story. The most reaching scope. All of these attributes can be assigned to this year's entries. And our nominees are...


GamesRadar's 2012 RPG of the Year will be awarded on December 14!

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Platforms:

Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PC, PS Vita, 3DS, Wii, Wii U, iPhone, DS, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows Phone 7, Arcade, PSP, Dreamcast, PS1, Game Boy, Saturn, GameCube, Sega CD, GBA, SNES, Genesis, Turbografx, NES, Xbox, N64

28 comments

  • Rezindez - December 10, 2012 5:13 p.m.

    PERSONA 4: GOLDEN, MUCH?

  • xx_CaPTiiN_SpAiiN_zz - December 10, 2012 12:26 p.m.

    xcom isent an rpg...

  • BladedFalcon - December 10, 2012 7:31 a.m.

    ...Why isn't Dragon's Dogma here? It's way more of an RPG than Diablo III or specially X-COM, since neither of those games are RPGs neither by gameplay or structure. I mean, if you're putting diablo III here, you might as well put borderlands too, they both share the same thing that could make them be considered an RPG >_>

  • Azathell - December 13, 2012 7:55 a.m.

    Totally agree!! Dragon's Dogma is a really good RPG for playability and fun!! Long, with lots of content... should be in this list. X-COM is strategy, diablo 3 is a pay-to-win arcade.

  • MrJechgo - December 9, 2012 4:18 p.m.

    Xenoblade Chronicles??? How on Earth can you forget this one?

  • letric5 - December 9, 2012 10:18 a.m.

    What would you guys consider an RPG honestly I feel as if the term has so many variegated meanings that it's not even funny. Could I technically say Halo 4 is a RPG seeing as you play as a character who fulfills a certain role in the game or would that be incorrect seeing as the player has a fixed path with no optional side quests besides Spartan Ops... the term seems very difficult to define as pretty much every video game has the player as a character who fills a role in the said game...

  • KnowYourPokemon - December 9, 2012 9:22 p.m.

    Well RPGs tend to have lots of looting involved, lots of attention given to battle/conversation stats, the ones I enjoy the most tend to give you more open ground as to how you see your character. For example Master Chief already has a set personality that you can't alter while in a lot of RPGs the character is either silent to give you the sense of being the character you want them to be with your own personal personality, or they'll be voiced with different dialogue options to at least give you the choice of personality. That being said so many games borrow RPG elements these days that it really is an extremely broad genre.

  • oshunanat - December 8, 2012 10:20 p.m.

    I'm about 15 hours in to Torchlight 2. It's great fun, but I wouldn't call it RPG of the Year worthy - the story is too weak and the balance needs tweaking. I think Diablo 3 has moved so far from it's action-RPG roots that it should really just be considered an action game at this point (skill unlocks don't count as an RPG element unless you can actually pick the skill you unlock!). XCOM seems to be here because it doesn't have another home to put it in, since the genre is so small. These are nitpicks though because realistically it'll likely be Mass Effect 3 taking home the trophy unless Guild Wars 2 plays spoiler.

  • Arsalan - December 8, 2012 6:13 p.m.

    Is Xenoblade considered last year (due to it being out in Europe then)? If not, I'm not sure why that wouldn't be a nominee. Out of the nominees listed I'm not sure there's a clear winner.

  • Killingjoke - December 8, 2012 6 p.m.

    I thought Paper Mario sucked?

  • Clovin64 - December 8, 2012 3:52 p.m.

    Does Dragon's Dogma count by any chance? It became one of my surprise games of the year. I loved Mass Effect 3 despite its flaws, but I can't in all honesty call it an RPG.

  • legoflamb15 - December 8, 2012 11:47 a.m.

    Am I the only one that loved Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning?! Thats my rpg of the year hands down.

  • gazzc - December 8, 2012 11:57 a.m.

    It was ok, but flawed. It was too easy to quickly overpower all the content just by clearing all the quests in an area - meaning you could just run in and use your most powerful move and kill anything in 1 hit almost as you aproached the later stages of the game. The crafting system was basic and fiddly especially when trying to make the more powerful weapons which it turned out the best method was to repeatedly load and save your game until you got what you needed. There also remain a lot of bugs, some completely game breaking that can require you to start a new game after 40+ hours and as the dev closed these I expect will remain forever. However I liked the story, the art style was nice and the combat was really good fun, its just not going to ever make rpg of the year in my book.

  • legoflamb15 - December 10, 2012 8:44 a.m.

    Ya I understand all the flaws it had and see why it can't really get rpg of the year Im just kind of so speaking in general terms in how much pure fun I had with the game despite its issues I loved every second I spent with that game idk exactly why it just all clicked with ne. Maybe cause it was so simple and it knew exactly what it was. A lot if my enjoyment also had to do with the fact I had never heard of it until it came out so it was truly my hidden gem of 2012 and I love those pleasant surprises that I didn't see coming. Its a real shame that the company went belly up cause I would love to see a sequal where they could fix some of the problems and make an even better game. Oh well.

  • C.King - December 8, 2012 10:53 a.m.

    huh? were any of these games turn and exp based? i suppose they are evolutions on the rpg genre but not what traditionally what comes to mind.

  • ThundaGawd - December 8, 2012 12:39 p.m.

    XCOM: Enemy Unknown was turn based, but it was more of a strategy game than an RPG in my opinion.

  • JarkayColt - December 8, 2012 9:21 a.m.

    Well that's weird. I could've swore Pokémon Black and White 2 came out a few months ago and that I'd been playing the absolute hell out of it since. Guess I just dreamt it.

  • IamTheBalance - December 8, 2012 8:52 a.m.

    Putting Diablo 3 on this list is an insult to RPGs. And an insult to gaming period.

  • MetroidPrimeRib - December 8, 2012 1:31 a.m.

    Diablo III isn't an RPG. Guild Wars 2 is pathetic. Mass Effect 3 isn't an RPG. Sticker Star is an embarrassment. The Last Story is really the only viable option here, honestly Torchlight II got boring after 2 hours X-Com MOST DEFINITELY is not an RPG, it's a TBS. Other then that, Dragon's Dogma and Devil Survivor 2 are missing, and those are the only other games that should be on there. Better then the rest of the list.

  • minimaxi - December 8, 2012 5:10 p.m.

    Debating the validity of 'RPG' label for diablo is actually an interesting topic. Calling it 'not an RPG' is absolutely correct IMO. But so is JRPG, which has next to zero 'role play'. Each action-rpgs and jrpgs are entirely different genre than traditional rpgs and they actually deserve their own category. On the other hand, separating their categories convolutes an award list, so yeah.

Showing 1-20 of 28 comments

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